


One Question

by Trickster_Angel



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Amnesia, Gen, Mild depictions of torture, no Thor 2 spoilers, not graphic I swear
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-06
Updated: 2013-11-06
Packaged: 2017-12-31 16:59:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,241
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1034105
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Trickster_Angel/pseuds/Trickster_Angel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Loki's memory of the incidents in the Avengers is spotty at best. With nothing but time, he ponders what happened between his fall and imprisonment.</p>
            </blockquote>





	One Question

**Author's Note:**

> Based solely on the Thor 2 trailers and the Avengers. No movie spoilers.

It’s not long after he was imprisoned that he tested his barriers. Loki sent out a swirl of magic, knocking all of the furniture of his cell to the floor. But the spell bounced harmlessly off the barrier of the cell. He could try and push it but decided against it. If the All-Father did not want him to leave, he would not be able to.

The cell had been nicely furnished with a small table, chair, end table, bed, and several books. It was not overly large, not as large as his bedroom had been, but it was not claustrophobic. Loki had been held in smaller spaces before. And he did not get claustrophobic.

Overall, however, there was very little to do. His “family” never visited him. Sometimes he would try and bait the guards but they always ignored him. So he stopped trying very shortly after beginning. The other prisoners were boisterous and Loki was the odd man out. Those prisoners were strong, as was the Aesir way, even though some were not Aesir. Loki, with his slight build and cunning mind was unlike the other criminals. A few he recognized but many he didn’t. He wondered if they had been arrested after he had left Asgard.

Sometimes they jeered at him. Loki suspected that it was unusual, that a former prince of Asgard would find himself in its lowest dungeon. But after years of being taunted by his brother’s friends, Loki had grown accustomed to ignoring such things.

Sometimes he would read the books that had been provided for him. He had already read them, but they were a comfort and, compared to what he had been through, he was grateful for them. 

Most often, Loki would find himself leaning against one of the white walls in his cell, closing his eyes, and trying to remember why he was there in the first place.

He always starts at the beginning, when he fell off the Bifrost. He remembers falling for a very long time.  It easily felt like centuries of doing nothing but falling. He saw many worlds and galaxies but they disappeared as quickly as they had appeared.

He was not sure when he stopped falling. But the memories of falling quickly fused into memories of pain. Sometimes Loki would wonder what the Chitauri had wanted to accomplish by torturing him. He never found an answer.

For as many years as he fell, he was he tortured. At first, as was Loki’s style, he smiled through the pain. He laughed at them and told them to do their worst. He goaded them and asked if they could do any better. They improved very shortly after that.

Loki continued to bait them until the first time he cried out. That was the first crack in his armor. Every time they beat him, he would just keep quiet. When they cut him, he wouldn’t say a word. And that was how they realized they were winning.

After that, Loki allowed himself to scream more often. Sometimes the Chitauri would laugh at him and he swore in languages they would never comprehend.

Loki held out for as long as he could before he finally let go of his pride and begged them to stop. Unsurprisingly, they did not. Not for a long time after he had been defeated. At that point, Loki started to curse his magic. As quickly as he was wounded, his injuries would heal so they could torture him for hours without so much as leaving a scratch.

Those were his last clear memories. After that, his memories were fragmented and Loki was unable to tell what was real and what he might have imagined.

He could remember the Other. He remembered a conversation and a gold staff with a blue gem.

Then he could remember a base and several people staring at him. He remembered a man with arrows.

He remembered people screaming in fear. There was a man in blue and a man in red armor.

“You give up this poisonous dream.” He could remember Thor at some point or another. He was unsure when.

Then there was a woman with fiery hair and a beast. He remembered the man in the red armor offering him a drink.

He remembered being hit so hard his head was spinning. Then Thor was screaming at him, “Look at this! Look around you! Do you think this madness with end with your rule?” The city was in chaos. The Chitauri were attacking it.

Then his memories left off again until he was getting up after being knocked around. He could not remember by whom. Only that he was injured after the attack. All six of the people he remembered were staring at him and the man with the arrows had one aimed at him. He had lost a battle he didn’t even know he had been fighting. Unsure of what to say, he replied with his usual sarcasm, “If it’s all the same to you, I’ll have that drink now.”

Even after that his memories were slightly spotty until he ended up in the cell. He could vaguely remember being led by Thor to a spot from where they went back to Asgard. After that, he remembered Odin yelling, Frigga crying, and the Aesir calling for his head. It frustrated him so much that he could not remember everything. He was told that Frigga was the only reason he was not being sentenced to death. If he said he did not remember what had happened, no one would believe him. He could only play along with everything and hope he could bluff his way out. If he remained in the dungeon for the rest of his days, he figured that it would not be an impossible task. Besides, there was no one to tell his side of the story to.

What did it matter anyway? Loki knew now that he was the villain. No one would care enough to listen to his perspective. History is written from the side of the victors and he was not one of them.

Then Thor came to speak with him. Loki didn’t know how long it had been since he’d seen him. There were no windows so he could only tell by the changing of the guards.

“After all this time, now you come to visit me, brother?” he taunted because he had not been able to tease Thor in such a long time, “Why? To mock?”

“I need your help,” Thor started and explained the entire situation.

Loki smiled at him the entire time. “When do we start?”

***

Loki had expected for Thor’s friends not to trust him. After what had happened with Thor’s banishment and what they had been told of what happened after, he would have been more surprised had they not. He took it in stride, smiling and giving them a half-laugh in response to their threats.

Then a little maiden with light brown hair smacked him across the face. He was not hurt by it so much as surprised. 

“That was for New York,” she said and Loki immediately recognized her as Thor’s mortal woman. He regained his composure quickly and, exactly as he had with Thor’s friends, he smiled and said, “I like her.”

As the rest of their party wandered on ahead, Loki lingered to briefly ponder one question. What had happened in New York?

 


End file.
